Why Rihanna’s Expanding Clara Lionel Foundation is seen as a model for Celebrity Philanthropy – ryan
New York (AP) – Rihanna is accustomed to defying convention.
The nine-time grammy winner has tourned her wide-ranging string of hits, Including “Umbrella” and “Work,” Into A Business Worth an Estimated $ 1.4 Billion, Placing Her High on Last List of the Richest “Self-Made” American Women. The Barbados Native Stunned Entertainment’s Biggest Stage With A Pregnancy Reveal During Her Solo 2023 Super Bowl Halftime Show. And the times Successful Fenty Beauty Cosmetics Brand Revolutionized the makeup industry with its inclusive shades.
But it is not the megastar-Turned-mogul’s Long-Awaited Follow-Up to 2016’s “Anti” album set to make waves this year. Its Her Philanthropy.
Named after Rihanna’s Grandparents and ended partially through her brands, the clara lionel foundation is coming off a “refresh” that is poised to direct over to the ends of the Solutions and Women’s Entrepreneurship in the underwater-invested regions of Africa, the Caribbean and the US. After 13 years of relative anonymity, the nonprofit is ready for more visibility.
Jessie Schutt-Aine, The Executive Director of the Clara Lionel Foundation, Poses for A Portrait, Tuesday, March 4, 2025, in Kensington, MD. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Jessie Schutt-Aine, The Executive Director of the Clara Lionel Foundation, Poses for A Portrait, Tuesday, March 4, 2025, in Kensington, MD. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
“Our founder is a Woman from a small island who’s go Global Reach. She’s an Entrepreneur. She’s a Creative,” Said Executive Director Jessie Schutt-Aine. “So, we have been an organization that reflects that spirit and that energy.
Experts Say’s Rare to See Suach Constitutionality Among Famous Philanthropists. Clara Lionel Foundation Has Also Garnered Praise for Its Embrace of “Trust-Based” Giving, Which Empowers Recipients With UntRicted Funding.
AP Audio: Why Rihanna’s Expanding Clara Lionel Foundation is seen as a model for Celebrity Philanthropy
AP Correspondent James Pollard Reports on the Refresh of Rihanna’s Clara Lionel Foundation.
Ndn Collective Founder Nick Tilsen Said CLF LETS HIS Indigenous Power-BUILDING NONPROFIT “DO THE WORK ON OUR TERMS”-and that other funders shoulders take notes.
“They’re not a foundation that’s all up in your Business, eather,” Tilsen Said. “They Support. They see the work. They allow us to what we need to do.”
Rihanna poses for Photographers ups arrival at the Fashion Awards 2024 on Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, in London. (Photo by Scott a Garfitt/Invision/AP, File)
Rihanna poses for Photographers ups arrival at the Fashion Awards 2024 on Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, in London. (Photo by Scott a Garfitt/Invision/AP, File)
Clara Lionel Foundation’s Personal Roots
Rihanna Started the Foundation with A $ 516,000 Contribution AFTER HER GRANDMOTHER DIED OF CANCER COMPLICATIONS IN 2012. THAT YEAR, The Musician Established An Oncology Center at Barbados’ Main Hospand to Expand Cancer Screening and Treatment. And the Young Foundation Focused on Healthcare and Barbados for Much of Last Decade.
By 2019, Though, Clf Had Begun Prioritizing Emergency Preparedness. Grantmking jumped to more than $ 33 million in 2020 as the nonprofit provided much-needed pandemic relief and backed racial Justice Efforts. Post-Pandemic Spanding Slowdowns Coincycle With Its Internal Transition, Acciting to Tax Filings.
A revamped team and refined priorities Now Match Its Broader Ambitions. A New Director for Women’s Entrepreneurship, Bassed in South Carolina, Will Build Out That Pillar’s Programs. Black feminist end co-founder amina doherty now oversees programs and impact. Rounding out it five new pillars are Climate Solutions, Arts and Culture, Health Access and Equity, and Future Generations.
The Youth Focus was Commended by Ashley Lashley, A 25-YEAR-Old whose Foundation has worked with clf to address Environmental challenges in her native barbados. She offen Hears Leaders Say that ‘Youth Are the Future,’ She Said, But Those Statements Rarely Translate Actual Support.
“Rihanna’s Foundation is a prime example of how well in power can Help Contribute to work is being at the community level,” Lashley Said.
Rihanna Told the Associated Press she hopes clf Will conting to be a Force for “Global Inclusion in Philanthropy.”
She reflects on the Foundation’s 13-Yyar Transformation in a Statement: “Today we have global reach, but that notion of love for community and for our roots runs deep in the dna of the Foundation.”
Jessie Schutt-Aine, The Executive Director of the Clara Lionel Foundation, Poses for A Portrait, Tuesday, March 4, 2025, in Kensington, MD. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Jessie Schutt-Aine, The Executive Director of the Clara Lionel Foundation, Poses for A Portrait, Tuesday, March 4, 2025, in Kensington, MD. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Finding Partners – Big and Small
The latest example of that evolution is a partnership with the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Barbados’ “Invaluable History” as “an essential chapter in the broader Story of the african diaspora” is threatened by Climate Change, Acciting to A Mellon Press Release.
Together, The Two Foundations Announced, They Will Fund “Artist-Led Initiatives” to protest that culture “while inspiring new narratives and opportunities Internationally.
Schutt-Aine Views the partnership with mellon-The Larger Philanthropic Supporter of the Arts in the US-As a Milestone for Clf. Justin Garrett Moore, the Director of the Mellon’s Humanities in Place Program, Said the Nonprofit’s Name Arose His Team Asced Contacts to Recommend Partners.
“We Think there is an incredible platform that clara lionel foundation has, with their founder, to bring this type into a legibility and visibility for the organizations will be supported,” Moore Said. “ALSO, JUST Generally in the Society, to Help Amplify the Power of the Arts.”
Among Those Grantes is a Developmental Performance Arts Program That Also Provides Free Social Services to Students in the Nation’s Capital of Bridgetown. Triple Thread Founder Jane Headley Said Clara Lionel Foundation Helped the NonProfit Afford a warehouse outfitted with acoustics panels, sound equipment and a dance floor.
The Relationship Began With A Microgrant for Scholarships. Triple thread thread now recipes General Operating Support – A “Revolutionary” Investment, Headley Said, Because Charlar Donations are Usually Earmarked for Specific Causes. That flexibility proved especally Helpful During the pandemic we rapidly changing Circumstances Created New Needs Like iPads for Remote Learning.
“It ‘uncommon, to be honest, to have someone gIive a sizable donation unrestricted and Say,’ We Trust You, Your Vision, ‘Headley Said. “That is Very Forward-Thinking of say.”
A unique model for Celebrity Philanthropy
Philanthropy Rihanna Foundation-Philanthropy Spec
AP Correspondent James Pollard Reports on the Refresh of Rihanna’s Clara Lionel Foundation.
The Approach is unique, accorting to Mary Collins, the Executive Director of the Center for Community and Nonprofit Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She finds that celebrities typically Engage in Philanthropy Only when necessary.
But Collins Said Clf Appears to Think Long-Term About Its Partners and Deliberately in Its Bottom-Up Funding. The strategies align with her own recommendations to the Engage Expert Professionals, Address Root Causes, Select Focus Areas Important to Footers and Lift Up Leaders Those Issues.
“We have want to see funds and resources from the most endowed people in the world going to thinkrs on the ground that really know the place and the Experience and thessues best,” Collins Said.
Clf Used that model Late Last year crue it provided adding to a clean energy nonprofit impacted by Hellenic. Melanie Allen, Co-Director of the Hive Fund for Climate and Gender Justice, Said They Suddenly Received Around $ 60,000 to Quickly Distribute Among Vetted Partners in Devastated Communities.
Rihanna by the Numbers
$ 1.4 Billion
Rihanna’s Net Worth, Acciting to Forbes
50
Number of Foundation Shades Offered by Rihanna’s Inclusive Makeup Line Fenty Beauty
$ 47,689,851
Clara Lionel Foundation’s Net Asssets at the End of 2023, Acciting to Its Latest Public Tax Filings
14th
No. 1 Hits on the Billboard Hot 100
$ 323.5 million
Total Investment Into Savage X Fenty, Accounting to PitchBook, Which Venture Capital Investments Tracks
The Contribution Came Amid An Increasingly Hostle ENVIRONMENT FOR NONPROFITS LIKE HERS SUPPORTING WOMEN OF COLOR, WHICH HAS PROMPTED ATO PHILANTROPists to Reduce Giving. Allen Said She is Excited About CLF’s “Deep Commitment to the South Going Forward.”
AS OTHERS REDUCE Resources, CLF WANTS to Bring More Philanthropic Partners to the Table. They’re planning a summer convent for GRANGE to expand networks. The Message, Clf’s Doherty Said, is “We will stick with you.”
“Some People Might Say Times Look Bleak,” Dohety Said. “But this is a moment of Possibility.”
The importance of remaining grounded in communities you serve is a lesson schutt-aine learned throughout a 25-Yaar Global Health Career.
Most recently the Chief of Equity, Gender and Cultural Diversity at the Pan American Health Organization, Schutt-Aine Has Treated the World’s Deadliest of Tuberculosis, Malaria and HIV/AIDS.
“If You’re Going to Work on Malaria,” She Said, “You Need to Have Lived With The Mosquito.”
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